É. Apor (ed.): David Kaufmann Memorial Volume: Papers Presented at the David Kaufmann Memorial Conference, November 29, 1999, Budapest.
RICHLER, Benjamin: Some Observations on Weisz's Catalogue of the Kaufmann Collection
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON WEISZ'S CATALOGUE The Kaufmann Collection is fairly rich in Kabbalah MSS, especially of Lurianic Kabbalah and 17th century compositions, close to ninety MSS altogether. The accuracy of the descriptions in this section of the catalogue is, as may be expected in a book written before G. Scholem's research was published, quite deficient. The third large group of MSS is that of the liturgical MSS, numbering close to one hundred, from no. 359 to 453. Included are MSS from most of the different rites, Sephardic, Ashkenazic and Italian, but the greatest number of MSS in this section derives from Yemen and most of them were purchased in Jerusalem from 1882-1884, and brought to Kaufmann in Budapest. Most of the MSS are described in brief and there is no list of piyyutim in the various MSS as there are in other catalogues of Hebrew MSS such as those in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, the British Museum (now British Library) in London and the Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris. Until these MSS are catalogued in detail there is no way to determine how valuable they are for the research of Jewish liturgy. One aspect that Weisz writes about in great detail is the illumination and ornamentation of the MSS. Whenever the catalogue describes an illuminated or decorated MS the description is long and exhaustive. All the illustrations in the MSS are described and Weisz pays attention to all the technical details. Over twenty pages are devoted to describing seven or eight illuminated MSS, one of which, a Passover Haggadah (no. A 422), the famous Kaufmann Haggadah , is described over six and a half pages. The equally famous Mishna MS is described in Iwo words: "Mischna, vollstaendig". The codicological description of this MS extends over ten lines, six of which are devoted to a transcription of the ode Kaufmann wrote describing his joy on the acquisition of the MS. It is to be regretted, however, that no facsimiles or illustrations accompany the printed catalogue, which goes to such great lengths to describe the illuminations in so great detail. A selection of the manuscripts from the Kaufmann Collection was copied on microfiche in 1959. The rest of the collection was microfilmed for the IMHM a short while later. The manuscripts are being catalogued by the staff of the IMHM but the task is not yet completed. We shall now proceed to list a few corrections to the Weisz catalogue based on the research carried out by the staff of the IMHM. Bible Commentaries Catalogue no. A 20 Described by Weisz as Maskil Yavin, an anonymous commentary on the Pentateuch. In reality, it is Moses b. Nahman's mystical commentary Sodot ha-Torah. The scribe thought that the expression Maskil Yavin used by Ramban was the title of the work, and Weisz followed in his footsteps. 19
